Last year’s 297th case reported from Khyber Agency

Immunisation drive postponed in K-P till mid-January over security concerns.

PESHAWAR: The country’s 297th polio case of 2014 surfaced from the tribal areas on Saturday as the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government postponed a polio vaccination drive over security concerns.

The most recent polio victim belongs to Khyber Agency. The child’s sample was collected on December 15 and sent to National Institute of Health for confirmation. Since the onset of paralysis occurred in December, the case will be added to the total polio count of 2014.

On hold

Following directives issued by the federal government to suspend the polio immunisation campaign over security concerns, the provincial government has postponed a drive scheduled for Sunday (today).

According to officials associated with the drive, an immunisation drive will now be held in mid-January first in the provincial capital and then across the province.

The official said the campaign was postponed because a readiness report could not be submitted on time. “Before a drive is initiated, health officials are supposed to file a readiness report to the health department to suggest whether it is fully prepared for a campaign or not,” said the official.

He added following the attack on Army Public School, the said report which also includes an overview of security could not be submitted to the relevant authorities on time and thus the drive has been delayed.

Ineffective eradication cells?

In December, a senior official associated with polio eradication had told The Express Tribune over 75% of the infected children below the age of two have not received even a single dose of the vaccine. This, according to the official, indicated that polio eradication cells on both federal and provincial levels have failed to achieve their objective and are ineffective.

Similarly, Expanded Programme on Immunisation Deputy Director Tahir Nadeem had said that if polio cases continue to increase despite extensive vaccination campaigns, it clearly indicates something is amiss in the eradication efforts. Nadeem termed monitoring and supervision as ‘weak areas’, and said many plans made for eradicating polio remain unimplemented.

Targeting polio workers

Unidentified militants set the house of a polio worker on fire in central Kurram Agency.

According to the political administration of the agency, Muhammad Wazir’s house in Khattak Mela was burned to the ground allegedly for vaccinating children against polio. Fortunately, no casualty was reported.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 4^th, 2015.